ORTELIUS, Abraham.
[Early 17th century miniature map of Japan]Iaponia Insvla.Antwerp, J.B.Vrients, 1601, Latin edition. Coloured. 90 x 130mm.Japan, from the plate engraved by the Arsenius brothers, first issued 1601, with longitude and latitude numbers in the borders. Vrients did not purchase the Arsenius plates from Keerbergen until after 1604, so he must have rented the plates or bought printed sheets for this edition.KOEMAN: Ort 61; HUBBARD: 10.
[Ref: 15806]
£280.00
($359 • €314 rates)

HONDIUS, Jodocus.
[Early 17th century map of Japan]Japonia.Amsterdam, Jodocus Hondius the younger, 1619, French edition. Original colour. 350 x 450mm. Minor repair to centerfold.Fine map of Japan originally published in 1609, following Ortelius's map. Korea is shown as an island, but with a note explaining that there was doubt about whether it was a peninsula. This example is from the first state of the map, before the title was changed and the junk replaced with a galleon.KOEMAN: Me 26b; HUBBARD: 13.
[Ref: 15641]
£1,900.00
($2,438 • €2,134 rates)

CARDIM, Antonio Francisco.
[A Jesuit missionary's map of Japan]Japponiae Nova & Accurata descriptio Per R.P. Antonium Franciscum Cardim Societatis Jesu Ad Elogia Japponica.Rome: Typis Heredum Corbelletti, 1646. 275 x 405mm. Small cracks in centre fold repaired.A very uncommon map, published in Cardim's 'Fasciculus e Japponicis floribus, suo adhuc madentibus sanguine', an illustrated history of the martyrdoms in Japan from 1597 to 1640. A 36-point key lists the Jesuit properties in Japan and a vignette ship illustrates the landing of St Francis Xavier, a co-founder of the Jesuits) on Japan,15th August 1549. Cardim (1596-1659), a Portuguese Jesuit, travelled to Goa, Vietnam and China between 1618 to 1638. After a period back in Europe, during which time he wrote this book, he set sail for the East again in 1649. After a ship wreck off Mozambique he arrived in Goa in 1650. In 1653 he was captured by Dutch privateers who kept him prisoner for over two years. He died in Macao, aged 63, never having visited Japan.HUBBARD: 21.
[Ref: 17935]
£12,500.00
($16,038 • €14,038 rates)

TAVERNIER, Jean-Baptiste.
[Pitt's English edition of Tavernier's map of Japan]A Map of the Isles of Japan.London: Moses Pitt, 1680. 360 x 520mm. Narrow margins, minor repairs to binding folds on verso. A fine impression.The first English edition of Tavernier's map of Japan, first publshed the previous year, augmented with an inset of the Gulf of Tonkin, originally a separate map in the original work. The route by land & sea from Nagasaki to Tokyo is marked.
On stylistic grounds the map has been attributed to the engraver Herman Moll, making it one of his earliest works.
Tavernier, a gem merchant, travelled only to China, but included a description of Japan in his account.HUBBARD: 46.
[Ref: 17526]
£4,750.00
($6,094 • €5,334 rates)

MALLET, Alain Manesson.
[17th Century miniature map of Jesso]Terre de Iesso.Paris, 1683. 150 x 110mm.Map of Hokkaido before La Perouse finally dispelled the myth of Ezo. The north-west coastline is not defined, as it was known known whether it was an island or part of mainland Asia. Published in the Description de l'Univers.WALTER: 112, illus.
[Ref: 17513]
£160.00
($205 • €180 rates)

MULLER, Johann Ulrich.
[Uncommon miniature map of Japan]Niphon Ins.Ulm: 1692. Original colour. 70 x 80mm, set in German text. Charming miniature map, with a letterpress text in German. This is an example of the first state of two, before a title 'Iapo/nia' was added.HUBBARD: 58.1.
[Ref: 17994]
£380.00
($488 • €427 rates)

JANSSON, Jan.
[A fine early sea chart of Japan]Nova et Accurata Iaponiæ, Terræ Esonis, ac Insularum adjacentium.Amsterdam: Schenk & Valk, c.1700. Original colour. 450 x 550mm.A re-issue of Jansson's chart of Japan of 1658, with body colour rather than the original outline. The map also shows the 'island' of Korea, and the semi-mythical islands of 'Eso' & 'Companies Land', making the contents more myth than reality.
It is interesting that this map differs markedly from Blaeu's map of 1655. Blaeu had used the cartography of Martino Martini (with Korea back on the mainland), while Jansson prefered the work of Maerten Gerritsz Vries. Jansson had first used his work in a pocket map in 1648: it was very unusual for a publisher to publish important new cartographical information in small format first.HUBBARD: 30, state ii of ii; WALTER: 57 (for first state).
[Ref: 17524]
£2,200.00
($2,823 • €2,471 rates)

CHÂTELAIN, Henri Abraham.
[An early 18th century map of Japan]L'Empire du Japon, Tiré des Cartes des Japonnois.Amsterdam, 1719. 380 x 440mm. A fine, dark impression.A map of Japan based on Reland's landmark map of 1715, with Japanese script naming the sixty-six provinces. Under the map is a large cartouche with the shields of the noble families of Japan and a text describing the Japanese sources for his map (although not mentioning Reland). To the right is an inset chart of Nagasaki Harbour. The map was published in the 'Atlas Historique' a seven-volume atlas that is usually attributed to Henri Abraham Châtelain; however Hubbard and other recent writers posit that it was his brother Zacherie who compiled the work.HUBBARD: 73.
[Ref: 17371]
£1,250.00
($1,604 • €1,404 rates)